ACHUKA Children's Books UK

children's & YA recommendations on the go

You are here: Home / Archives for mystery

The Gifts That Bind Us by Caroline O’Donoghue

By Leave a Comment

Waterstones
Amazon
Bookshop

Follow the author on Instagram:

Maeve and her friends have revealed their powers and banded together as a coven: Roe can pick locks, Lily sends sparks flying, Maeve can read minds and Fiona can heal any injury. And even better than their newfound talents? Roe and Maeve are officially an item.

But with strange things happening at school, and old enemies appearing in new places, it soon becomes clear their powers are attracting all the wrong attention. It’s not long before Maeve’s gift start to wane, drained by someone – or something – that’s hiding even from her second sight…

A brilliant second installment in the Hidden Gifts series, with further titles to come.

Precious Catastrophe (Perfectly Preventable Deaths 2) by Deirdre Sullivan

By Leave a Comment

ACHUKA Book of the Day 25 Feb 2022

Waterstones
Amazon
Bookshop

“The writing is atmospheric and creepy, and I was constantly on edge. You just know there’s something sinister happening, even if you don’t know what. It’s the feeling of knowing someone is watching you, they’re behind you, and they’re creeping up to you, but you can’t turn around, so you’re just waiting and waiting for them to reach you. You’re constantly on the precipice of terror; it’s all encompassing and inescapable, and bloody brilliant!” Once Upon A Bookcase
“Precious Catastrophe is a story I had been longing to tell, and I had been gathering inspiration for it for the seven years I’d been writing Perfectly Preventable Deaths, knowing what I wanted to happen, and just waiting for the right time to explore it. I relished the opportunity to return to Madeline and Catlin and explore their world a little more.” Deirdre Sullivan

A compelling and darkly magical sequel to Perfectly Preventable Deaths.

Madeline. You’ve lost your soul. You’ve lost your freedom. You’ve lost a bit of your sister. What else could go wrong? Catlin and Madeline are extraordinary sisters, living extraordinary lives – in a place that seems entirely ordinary, but which in fact seethes with secrets, both sacred and sinister. Ballyfran is a village where, for centuries, people who are not quite human have gathered. Catlin has already fallen foul of one such creature – a dark, vicious predator who almost killed her – and only Madeline giving up a part of her own soul was able to bring Catlin back from the brink of death. Now, the girls are making their strange new lives: Catlin, haunted by what happened to her, is isolated and bereft; Madeline is learning ancient magics under the tutelage of local wise woman Mamo. Learning that magic isn’t mindfulness and hats. It’s work – hard work. And Madeline knows she has to keep watch. On her sister. On the things that happen. Notice things before they start to happen. And before long, they do …

Read an interview with the author on ReadingZone.

Follow the author on Instagram:

Libby and the Parisian Puzzle – The Travelling School Mysteries 1 by Jo Clarke ill. Becka Moor

By Leave a Comment

Waterstones
Amazon
Bookshop

“This is delightful and has all the ingredients to encourage young readers to feel part of the fun and the puzzle solving.” A Library Lady
“A brilliant and fast paced detective story that is going to appeal to all lovers of this genre.” BfK 5-star review
Mystery-lover Libby is excited but nervous when she’s sent to live with her aunt while her mother is working abroad. Aunt Agatha is the headmistress of an extraordinary travelling school that moves from country to country. Libby joins it in Paris, where she is just starting to find her feet when her aunt is arrested, accused of a daring jewel robbery. Can Libby and her new best friend Connie find the real thief and save her aunt? Illustrated by Becka Moor.

Follow Jo Clarke on Instagram:

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Jo Clarke (@booklover_jo)

and the illustrator Becka Moor

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Becka Moor (@beckamoor)

Into the Sideways World by Ross Welford

By Leave a Comment

ACHUKA Book of the Day 21 Jan 2022

Waterstones
Amazon
Bookshop

From the author of When We Got Lost In Dreamland, The Kid Who Came From Space, The Dog Who Saved The World, and Time Travelling With A Hamster…

[Cover illustration by Tom Clohosy Cole.]

When twelve-year-olds Willa and Manny hear of a mysterious animal prowling their town, they are determined to prove it is real. Following the creature into a cave one full moon, they are swept into an alternate, ideal, world – one where pollution and conflict have been conquered decades ago and even their own families seem happier.

But when they return, no one believes them. So, with a global war looming in their own world, their quest for proof of the Sideways World becomes ever-more urgent, in a nail-biting race against time.

And Willa and Manny will have to make an impossible decision: because once you find a perfect world, can you ever leave it behind?

Follow Ross on Instagram:

The Horror of Dunwick Farm – The Crooked Oak Mysteries by Dan Smith ill Chris King

By Leave a Comment

Waterstones
Amazon
Bookshop

The mystery is growing at Dunwick Farm and it all started with a plane crash … Crooked Oak’s mystery-solving team return with another spine-tingling adventure, perfect for fans of Stranger Things and Crater Lake.

Follow the author on Instagram:

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Dan Smith (@dansmithauthor)

[See also The Beast of Harwood Forest]

When an unidentified plane crashes in the fields next to Dunwick Farm in Crooked Oak, it quickly becomes clear that it was carrying some unusual cargo. As people in the town fall suddenly ill and animals start behaving strangely, friends Pete, Krish and Nancy try to find out what was in the glass boxes on board the plane. But as they uncover the facts, the trio realise that they are becoming entangled in a terrifying web …

Follow the illustrator on Instagram:

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Chris king (@chriskingart)

Shadowghast – An Eerie-on-Sea Mystery by Thomas Taylor

By Leave a Comment

Waterstones
Amazon
Bookshop

The third book in this MG mystery series.

A creepy magician with a shadowy act. A legend that goes back to the dawn of time. Eerie-on-Sea just got stranger. And darker…

A mysterious stage magician has set up in the theatre at the end of the pier, with an act so hypnotic and strange that Herbie Lemon and his friend Violet Parma suspect dark forces are at work. Meanwhile, folk are disappearing from Eerie-on-Sea, and no one knows why. There is an Eerie legend that goes back to the dawn of time, about a creature made of darkness that devours the shadows of the living. But could the Shadowghast really have returned?

Hide And Secrets by Sophie McKenzie

By Leave a Comment

Waterstones
Amazon
Bookshop

“McKenzie has written a thriller that moves at an electrifying pace. Although the reader is on Cat’s side as the story unfolds, the reader’s perception of who is a criminal and who is a victim will change. The bedrock of the narrative which does not fail to touch the reader is the relationship between Cat and her sister. Readers should be warned. Be prepared. There is a plot twist designed to keep them gasping at the end of every chapter, a twist that had this reviewer in its grip at every turn.”
BfK 5-star review

A lonely girl, a missing father and a trail of lies . . . From the million-copy bestselling author Girl Missing, comes a blockbuster teen thriller that will have you looking for answers round every corner.

Fourteen-year-old Cat is lonely – reeling from the loss of her father, she’s disconnected from friends and fighting with her mum. But when a new boy, Tyler, arrives for the summer, Cat finds herself opening up to the handsome stranger. A shocking revelation about her dad turns Cat’s world on its head. She and Tyler uncover a series of secrets that take them on a perilous journey. With fresh lies exposed and threats from a dangerous gang revealed, will Cat risk everything to keep herself and her family safe?

An explosive, edge-of-your-seat new drama from the original queen of teen thrillers,

Dark Peak by Marcus Sedgwick

By Leave a Comment

Times Children’s Book of the Week 17 Jul 2021

Waterstones
Amazon
Bookshop

“Dark Peak is essentially a rollicking mystery, but it also has a moral philosophical core, asking: why do we treat some people differently from others and can we do anything to change that?” The Times

During a long, hot summer, two children, Stephanie and Stephen, go missing while on a school trip to Lud’s Church, a deep chasm in the heart of the Peak District. Porter and his friend, Sam, are sent to fetch help. When they return they are surprised to find that although Stephanie has been found, no one is even looking for Stephen anymore. Why can no one remember what’s happened him? What happened in the dark of Lud’s Church? And why does Porter get the feeling that supernatural forces from deep in the past are at play? Marcus Sedgwick fuses mythology and mystery to create a compelling tale that is perfect for less-confident readers.

Kate On The Case by Hannah Peck

By Leave a Comment

ACHUKA Book of the Day 12 Jul 2021

Waterstones
Amazon
Bookshop

First in a witty two-colour self-authored chapter-book series about a bold young detective and a colourful cast of suspects, in a setting worthy of Agatha Christie.
Hannah Peck was a recent guest on ACHUKA’s weekend Q&A Meet An Illustrator...

Young reporter-in-training Kate and her mouse-accomplice Rupert are on board a train, to visit Kate’s mum in the Arctic. But as soon as the train departs, mysterious things start happening. A packet of ginger nuts goes missing . . . A collection of gymnastics trophies are stolen . . . And some ancient scrolls disappear . . . Fellow passenger Madame Maude seems the most likely culprit, until a surprising – and delicious – twist turns the whole investigation on its head.

Follow Hannah on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hannahpeckillustration/

The House on the Edge by Alex Cotter

By Leave a Comment

cover illustration by Kathrin Honesta

ACHUKA Book of the Day 1 Jul 2021

Waterstones
Amazon
Bookshop

“This story has one of the strongest voices I have ever read. The character of Faith is gripping – readers feel every bit of her panic and her urgency to protect her home and family. This is a captivating story of twists and turns that kept me guessing until the very end. Young readers will be swept away in this brilliant combination of folklore and modern family issues.” Scope For Imagination
“What a debut novel from Alex Cotter! A great, pacy plot, cracking characters (Faith herself, as well as Mrs Hollowbread, the grumpy teacher!), and the story being told first-person through Faith adding a real sense of engagement and empathy with/for everything that was going on.”  Whatiread
“There are great, surprising twists and by the end everything reaches a thrilling climax with the answers slotting together like bricks. This is unusually different – in all the best ways.” Chris Soul

A tense thriller that’s impossible to put down – perfect for fans of Emma Carroll and Fleur Hitchcock. Where has Faith’s dad gone? Why has he left his family living in an old house perched on a crumbling cliff top? A crack has appeared in the cliff and Faith watches anxiously as it gets bigger and bigger each day… Her brother is obsessed with the sea ghosts he claims live in the basement, and when he disappears as well, Faith starts to believe in the ghosts too. Can she find her brother and bring her father back before everything she cares about falls into the pitiless sea below? A great mystery with real heart, from a captivating new voice in middle-grade fiction.

Follow the Indonesian-based cover illustrator on Instagram:

an enthusiastic reader-response: